Today in History - Nov. 17

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 17, the 321st day of 2009. There are 44 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 17, 1800, Congress held its first session in Washington in the partially completed Capitol building.

On this date:

In 1558, Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary.

In 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt.

In 1934, Lyndon Baines Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as Lady Bird, in San Antonio.

In 1962, Washington's Dulles International Airport was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy.

In 1969, the first round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the United States and the Soviet Union opened in Helsinki, Finland.

In 1970, the Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon told Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, Fla.: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

In 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 black and/or female American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

In 1987, a federal jury in Denver convicted two neo-Nazis and acquitted two others of civil rights violations in the 1984 slaying of radio talk show host Alan Berg.

In 1997, 62 people, most of them foreign tourists, were killed when militants opened fire at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt; the attackers were killed by police.

Ten years ago: Officials close to the investigation into the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 said a relief co-pilot alone in the cockpit had said in Arabic: "I made my decision now; I put my faith in God's hands" just before the jetliner began its fatal plunge. (In Egypt, relatives angrily rejected any notion that relief co-pilot Gameel el-Batouty had deliberately crashed the plane.)

Five years ago: It was announced that Kmart was acquiring Sears in a surprise $11 billion deal. In Washington state, officials said Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi led Democratic opponent Christine Gregoire by only 261 votes. (After three counts of the ballots, Gregoire was declared the winner by just 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast.)

One year ago: In their first meeting since the election, Barack Obama and former rival John McCain met at the president-elect's transition headquarters in Chicago, where they pledged to work together on ways to change Washington's "bad habits." St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols won his second NL MVP award.

Thought for Today: "Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college." _ Lillian Smith, American writer and social critic (1897-1966).